SAN MARCOS  Principal Julie Mottershaw wanted to help the members of San Marcos High’s Class of 2013 — the “construction class,” she calls them — leave their mark on the new campus, which won’t be complete until after they graduate.

“They will have spent the most time in construction without ever reaping the rewards,” Mottershaw said.

So Monday, about 485 seniors gathered in the cavernous, unfinished gym for a class picture and to sign their names on the concrete floor.

Over the next couple of weeks, the wood gym floor will be installed, “and your names will be here forever,” Mottershaw said.

Construction on the 420,000-square-foot campus began in January 2012. In the meantime, an interim campus was built to house the more than 2,000 students, and the 50-year-old school was demolished in fall 2011.

With black or yellow construction crayons in hand, students from the Class of 2013 dived into the “Senior Signing” on what will be the main court of the gym. Some wrote their names with groups of friends, snapping photos together with their signatures.

Alex Landin (left) and Jaimee Nichols, both 17, signed their names together in a heart on the gym floor.— Don Boomer

Alex Landin (left) and Jaimee Nichols, both 17, signed their names together in a heart on the gym floor.
— Don Boomer

Others signed as couples, including Alex Landin and Jaimee Nichols, both 17, who signed their names in a big yellow heart and marked the date, “2-4-13,” below. Alex and Jaimee said they hadn’t planned ahead to sign together, but decided on the spot.

Marquis Antosh, 17, signed her nickname in huge, capital letters: “BOB!” Marquis said she’s had the nickname since middle school — an ordinary name that was easier for new acquaintances to remember than Marquis. She said there was no doubt she would sign with her nickname, but she was sure leave her mark with Marquis, too.

As the gym emptied and the seniors moved on to a lunch provided for them by the school, Assistant Principal John Hayek looked over the hundreds of names left on the concrete. “We wanted them to be proud and excited about it,” he said, “and I think that worked.”

Principal Julie Mottershaw talks to her seniors Monday in the new gym.— Don Boomer